• New Pine Creek, CA and Lakeview, OR

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    23 Nov 2007 /  Uncategorized
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    I used to get crazy assignments to go teach computer classes in out-of-the-way places like Dexter, Maine (home of Dexter Shoes) or Los Alamos, New Mexico (home of the A-bomb) or Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin (where Cray supercomputers and Leinenkugel beer are made) or Aberdeen, Maryland (fresh crab year-round). So when RaineyM said, “Let’s go visit my family at Goose Lake,” I couldn’t think of a better place to spend Thanksgiving. RaineyMot had warned me so thoroughly about what to expect that I was almost surprised to find people walking upright.

    The residents of Lakeview are very kind. Their kindness takes many forms (not just turning down the TV a notch when you visit):

    • allowing you to opt out of a fourth slice of pie after a 4000-calorie turkey dinner (i know–pot:kettle:black)
    • waving at you on the street
    • letting you win at Skip-bo when they suspect you are NEAR THE EDGE
    • giving you the use of any gun in the house!

    Apart from meeting RaineyMot’s blood relations (who are lovely, except for Snoopy who brings terrific violence to his chew toy when he becomes excited), there were some unexpected wins:

    • My hands were visible to every one of the sensor-operated paper towel dispensers (in busier towns I just don’t think establishment owners take maintenance very seriously)
    • I got a chance for first-time Yelp of every restaurant in the place
    • Caught up on the last 500 episodes of ‘Pinks’
    • Was not even tempted to shop the day after Thanksgiving: what a relief from consumer appetite!
    • The cold: neither wet nor dry–it was cold cold
    • Mountain lion bacon is cheap and plentiful (yes those are cougar prints)
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  • SEMA in Vegas: Specialty Equipment Market Association

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    03 Nov 2007 /  Uncategorized

    A few weeks ago I was standing on the beach talking to John (or ‘Johnny’ as he is known in the biz). He told me about this cool thing he does every year called the SEMA show in Las Vegas. I hate Vegas, or at least the Strip and the Convention Center of Vegas, but I loves my bro. So I scraped together $7 for a ticket on Southwest, and headed out.

    Ever waited for a cab at the Vegas airport? I decided to try LAS pedestrian-style. Here’s what the airport authority decided was acceptable for people entering and leaving the airport on foot:

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    The show was cool–my brother is so connected to all the aftermarket hotrod-type stuff. Everybody seemed to be following us around in order to talk to Johnny for a few minutes. Once when my brother was on the phone, this guy who was waiting to talk to him engaged me in conversation about something called an ‘RTS pocket ride’ which I think has something to do with airbag suspension systems (I thought airbags were for safety, but apparently hotrodders use them to lower their cars for show while the car is parked). I have a knack for looking like I’m following, but then he hit a hitch in his pitch, and halted, asking, ‘oh, what’s the name of that thing? the pin-based roller traction system for 65-69 Mustangs? you know?’. I thought the guy was going to die of embarrassment for not knowing the manufacturer of one of the kits he had installed. He almost ran away, except that my brother returned from his phone call and saved the guy by patching the holes in his pitch. After, we went on to see a 1100-horsepower muscle car that runs on BioDiesel:

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    One of the highlights for Johnny at the show is that he was receiving a car from a guy in Alabama who took his $2500 1976 Camaro and turned it into an $85,000 show car. Here he is, brushing the dust off for a day of gawkers:

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    Only problem: when we lit up the sidewalk leaving the show, we left virtually all the coolant on the pavement: the radiator was dry by the time we go to our hotel parking deck. So, Johnny phoned a few pals and within an hour two guys were turning wrenches under the hood to replace the water pump. Johnny’s pretty concerned about the way things look under the hood: here he is painting the water pump before installation, and the pals are hard at work.
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